pastor
/ˈpæs.tɚ/noun, verb
pastor is spelled P-A-S-T-O-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,230th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pastor means “A minister or priest in a church” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pastor is pastors.
How many letters and syllables are in pastor?
| Letters | 6: P-A-S-T-O-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 12 times per million words; the 6,230th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is pastor?
Pastor appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,230th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pastor?
- UK /ˈpɑː.stə/
- US /ˈpæs.tɚ/
Pastor has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pastor.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with pastor
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with pastor?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as pastor from its last stressed vowel (/æstəɹ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of pastor
- pastors plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pastoring participle, present
- pastored participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pastor mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicSomeone who tends to a flock of animals: synonym of shepherd.
- 2
A minister or priest in a church.
- 3
USThe main priest serving a parish.
- 4
A bird, the rosy starling.
verb
- 1
To serve a congregation as pastor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pastor in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense minister or priest:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pastor come from?
From Middle English pastour, from Old French pastor (Modern French pasteur), from Latin pāstor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).